


Epilogue

by mastelsa



Category: The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, M/M, Mentioned Relius/Teleus, Post-ROTT, my fleshed out happy ending for Costis and Kamet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:08:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27376990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mastelsa/pseuds/mastelsa
Summary: Costis and Kamet are given some decisions to make about their future
Relationships: Attolia | Irene/Eugenides, Kamet/Costis Ormentiedes
Comments: 4
Kudos: 53





	1. Chapter 1

The Queen of Attolia entered her husband’s apartments and dismissed her attendants with a wave.

“My Queen?” The King looked up from his desk.

“Teleus has tendered his resignation. He says he will remain in the palace long enough to train his replacement.”

The king offered his silent sympathy. There were few people who had been at her side for the entirety of her reign, and losing one was difficult, let alone two. After returning from his troubled stay in Pent, Relius had declared his intent to fully retire to a villa on the coast. Teleus had not voiced his intent to follow Relius, but he had not needed to.

“You are not surprised.”

The king shrugged. “I suspected it was a possibility. Teleus is nothing if not loyal, and Relius…” he paused, “Well, a man’s second time in prison can really change him.” He turned back to his scroll.

“You have not asked about a successor,” She pointed out.

“For Teleus?”

“So.”

“Did Teleus name a successor?”

He continued to pretend at his paperwork as the queen gave him a look from across the room that told him he already knew who Teleus had chosen.

The king sighed. “We don’t have to listen to Teleus,” he suggested.

“The guard loves Costis.”

“They do.”

“He is qualified for the position.”

“He is.”

“ _You_ love Costis.”

“So.”

“So, what is the problem?”

“Kamet.”

“Ah.” The queen hesitated. “We still need to replace Relius.” The current Secretary of the Archives, Baron Orutus, had not excelled at his job and did not seem to share the former secretary’s long-term dedication to his craft. The Baron would be rewarded for his service in the war and sent home with a prize and some stories about how he helped defeat the Mede. Kamet was an undeniably good fit to take over as Secretary of the Archives, and it would allow him and Costis to both work in the palace while Costis led the guard.

“No,” the King said.

“Why not?”

He thought. “Costis would be a liability,” he decided.

The queen entertained him. “You believe Costis would brag and pass secrets to our enemies?” It was absurd to suggest that Kamet was capable of the type of indiscretion that had seen Relius removed from official duty, and the king knew it. The queen shook her head.

“It would put him in danger.”

“No more than he is already in.”

“Pheris has been training with Relius,” he offered.

“Pheris is a child.”

The king resorted to truthfulness. “I will not have Kamet pressed into service.” By promoting Costis, who was already sworn to their service, they would be tying Kamet’s hands as well. Kamet had already spent so much of his life with no control over the outside forces that plucked and pulled at his fate. “It would not be fair.”

The queen stepped behind her husband to put her hands on his shoulders, watching his guilty reflection as he feigned interest in the lack of activity outside his window. “You could not have known they would grow so close,” she said. The king tilted his head all the way back to look at her, skeptical. She continued, “And if Kamet makes his decision out of love,” she kissed him on the forehead, “it is because he is as free to do so as any other man.”

“As any other fool,” the king grumbled.

“You are a fool.”

“I am the first to admit it.” Eugenides sighed with the weariness of a man who knew what he needed to do and did not want to do it. “We ask them separately. Kamet first. We will find him a place in the palace regardless, and he must know so when he decides.”

The Queen nodded her approval. “We cannot demand an immediate decision from Kamet,” she said. Catching the glint of plan forming in the king’s eye she warned, “And you cannot prevent them from discussing this with each other.” The king scoffed. She bent to rest her head against his shoulder and wrap her arms around him fully. “Have faith, my King, that they each will act in the other’s best interest.”

“I will ask Kamet tonight," the King said.

“I will ask Kamet, you will tell Costis.” The king turned. “Costis will not be as nervous with you,” she explained.

“Fine, I will ask Costis.” he conceded, “But I am doing it on the roof.”


	2. Chapter 2

Costis woke to his King’s almost-silent instruction to follow him. The King slipped back through the door and Costis scrambled to pull on some suitable clothes. At first he tried to be quiet about it, but he remembered Kamet was not there to wake and tease him for his lack of stealth. He missed living with Kamet.

The King appeared from a shadow in the hall outside and led Costis out onto the palace walls. Costis nearly balked when he realized where they were going.

Once they were safely atop a disused guard tower, the King looked at Costis and patted one of the crenellations. He pressed something into Costis’s gut and hopped onto the next crenellation over. Costis looked down at the wineskin the King had given him and warily back at the King, now sitting cross-legged, watching out over the city. Costis navigated himself onto his assigned seat, dangling his legs out over the side of the tower. At least this time he had control over the wine, he thought. As if in response, the King produced another wineskin, raising it to toast Costis before drinking deeply.

Costis sighed in resignation and drank in kind. The wine was sweet and cool, and it instantly reminded him of the last time he drank unwatered wine with the King. Suddenly suspicious, he carefully replaced the stopper on the wineskin and turned to see his King watching him with a wicked smile.

“Costis,” the King said in mock offense, “Would I ever try to trick you?”

The King dodged the wineskin before it could hit him in the head, leaning to snatch it out of the air before it passed him. Laughing, he tossed it back to Costis, who caught it in spite of himself.

“Drink up, Costis. We’re celebrating.”

“Celebrating what, Your Majesty?”

“Your promotion.”

Costis thought. The King could mean to send him on another trip and this was his strange way of telling him, or he could be serious and Costis was being promoted from his position in the Guard. There was only one rank in the Guard that would be a promotion from his current one.

“Teleus intends to retire,” the King confirmed. “He suggested you as his successor.”

The King searched his face as Costis’s thoughts ran. Sure, he’d dreamt of someday becoming Captain, but he’d never imagined it would be so soon. He hadn’t considered it a possibility since the King had detached him from the Guard. He had adjusted his expectations. Part of himself had recently started hoping for a future of continued espionage with Kamet like they had done in Roa. Five weeks apart and he felt worse than he had after first moving to the capital.

“Costis,” said the King gently, “It’s only yours if you want it.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“Have you seen Kamet tonight?”

Costis shook his head. Usually they would have had some time in the evening to catch up between Costis’s return to his guard duties, but Kamet had not been in the library, and Costis hadn’t had the time to check the inn he was staying at.

“The Queen offered him Secretary of the Archives this evening.”

It shouldn’t have been surprising—Kamet certainly had the skills for the job, Costis just hadn’t thought of it. But his surprise gave way to unease as he considered what these appointments would truly mean. Costis looked at the wine in his hand. The king no longer needed to get him drunk for him to speak his misgivings. He chose his words carefully.

“Your Majesty, I am honored by the trust you have placed in me. And I know that Kamet would be good at the job.”

“…But?”

“But this arrangement—me as Captain of the Guard and Kamet as Secretary of the Archives—it would be a liability.”

A fond smile played on the King’s lips. “How so?” he asked.

The King listened patiently as Costis told him about Sukir—about how he would have turned traitor and let Kamet escape if Kamet had only asked him. He reminded the King of their arrival in Attolia, when Costis had resolved to lie to him about Nahuseresh’s death in order to spare Kamet any punishment he may have incurred by coming to Attolia under false pretenses.

“I do not know if I can remain truly loyal to you and the Queen, and the Gods, _and_ the Guard, _and_...” he paused in realization, “I may have taken too many oaths,” he finished.

Eugenides nodded sympathetically. “The wine will help,” he suggested. Costis obliged and took another drink while the King closed his eyes and bowed his head, as if in defeat. He looked up before addressing Costis again.

“Tell me, Costis, you were ready to betray my orders and release Kamet if he had asked.” Costis nodded. “So why am I speaking with you on the roof and not from the outside of your prison cell?”

Because Kamet had known what Costis’s orders were, and he had not asked Costis to disobey them.

“And while you were _prepared_ to lie to my face about Nahuseresh, why didn’t I ever get to watch you try?”

Because Kamet had accepted the blame before he’d had the chance.

“Costis, your loyalty to Kamet is not a liability because wherever it would be, we can all count on Kamet to step in and save you from yourself, even to the point of his detriment. And,” the King continued, “we can just as surely rely on you to do the same for him. This arrangement is no more dangerous and much more reliable than that of your predecessors.” Costis could feel himself turning red.

“Tsk, tsk Costis,” the King teased, “Two years as a spy and you still wear your feelings on your face.” Costis made a move as if to throw the wineskin again, and couldn’t help but laugh at the King’s aggrieved expression after being made to dodge a missile that wasn’t there.

“I don’t know why I like you—you are just like my cousins.”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

The King sighed a final time and stood up directly on the parapet before hopping down. “It is my hope that Kamet’s choice is entirely his own, though I am not allowed to prevent you from discussing this with each other.” Costis understood. Kamet would not begrudge him the promotion, but he had left the palace and gone to Roa for a reason. Costis would not ask him to stay while he led the Guard permanently. He would rather leave the Guard and go anywhere with Kamet than be Captain of the Guard without him around.

The King patted Costis on the shoulder as he walked behind him. “Consider your decision, Costis. Only if you want it.” He disappeared the same way they’d come up, leaving Costis on the tower to think.


	3. Chapter 3

Kamet followed the armed guards who had been tasked with escorting him from his apartment in the city to the palace gardens. The sun had just set below the outside walls, and he fully appreciated the shade and coolness of the gardens after the last few weeks in the city. He had wanted to spend some time living in the capital as a free man, and the experience had quickly lost its luster. He hadn’t realized how much he would miss living with Costis. Once inside the palace grounds, they reached their destination quickly.

The Queen of Attolia greeted him with a smile. She sat on a bench under a copse of some sort of tree that Costis could have identified. She gestured for him to take a seat on a bench positioned across from hers. Kamet sat.

“How are you finding the city, Kamet?”

He told her about the people he met in wineshops and at the market. He told her about the pride they took in their Great King’s victory against the Mede, and the relief they felt now that austerity was no longer required of them. He told her about their children, their livestock, and their lives. The Queen closed her eyes sometimes to listen, imagining this city that was hers to rule but not to take part in. 

“Thank you, Kamet.”

“It is my pleasure, Your Majesty.” He meant it. But he also doubted that he had been summoned just to tell stories. The Queen, as if she had read his thoughts, met his eye and told him exactly why he was there. She spoke methodically, allowing Kamet time to think as she explained. 

“Attolia is in need of a new Secretary of the Archives. We believe that you are the right fit for the job.” That would mean her and Relius, and possibly the King, who Kamet still did not trust. “This is an offer. We are glad to have you, but only if you truly want the position.” It had required some distance from his former master for Kamet to understand that strong rulers did not need to coerce people into service. 

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“If you do not feel that that position suits you, we could find a different one for you in the palace, if you’d like.”

Kamet kept his suspicion from his face. The King and Queen had already made it clear he was welcome to stay in the palace; this bordered on insistence. Something was making them eager to keep him close, but not to the point of ordering or coercing him. Either that or the King and Queen thought he might  _ want _ multiple options that would keep him in the palace on a permanent basis.

“Teleus too, then?”

The Queen graced him with a sly smile and he couldn’t help but be proud. “I hope you believe me when I tell you there is good reason you are our first choice.” Kamet believed her. It surprised him how rewarding it was. “The King will tell Costis of his promotion later tonight. Much later tonight. On the roof.” Costis had told him stories of how the King conducted private meetings, and Kamet ducked his head at the image of poor Costis being dragged up to the roof by Eugenides in the middle of the night to receive his promotion.

It was a tidy way of doing things, he mused. If he and Costis both accepted these positions, they would be working in tandem to protect Attolia’s interests as well as each other. Costis had been glib about the numerous assassination attempts against him, but Kamet knew they were both of them in very real danger, and that wasn’t likely to change. With Erondites gone, there were fewer threats coming from within Attolia’s border, but Ghasudnivas would be incensed at his failure to conquer the now-unified Little Peninsula. Kamet understood that the next battles would not take place in the open, and it was vital that the Little Peninsula preserve their advantage in subterfuge and espionage over the coming years. Taking charge of that work might be a way for him to stay ahead of the danger that was bound to follow him and Costis anywhere they went. 

The Queen spoke again, “It is important that you make your decision freely. It is important to the King that you make your decision independently.” She ended with a touch of dryness. Kamet nodded again. The King was worried that Kamet would let his decision be influenced by Costis. The Queen had already accepted it. She knew that Attolia would get both or neither of them. 

“Speak with those you trust. There is no hurry to answer.”

Kamet was a free man, and that meant he was free to make this decision with Costis in mind. Costis, who would leave everything behind in an instant if he thought that was what Kamet was going to do. This was a good opportunity for both of them, and he would be remiss if he stood by and let Costis refuse promotion just to aimlessly follow him into a future he had no present plans for. It was time for him to develop some long-term aspirations.

To the Queen’s apparent surprise, Kamet accepted her offer on the spot.


	4. Chapter 4

It was difficult to be angry around Kamet. Costis had gotten into the habit of smoothing out his anger. He had started voicing all his petty frustrations after he noticed how much it affected Kamet whenever he was in a bad mood. It wasn’t Kamet’s fault for being frightened, but it made it difficult to be angry around him, and it made it especially difficult to be angry with him, which Costis was.

He had requested a private audience with the King and Queen that morning in order to decline his promotion to Captain. As Costis had stood in front of them waiting to be addressed, The King had looked at him and asked the Queen whether she thought Kamet would want Relius’s old office. Costis had stood in shock as the King and Queen debated which suites their new Secretary of the Archives could choose from, and when the King had finally asked him why he was there, he hadn’t had the wherewithal to come up with anything to say. He had been dismissed and had the rest of his day on duty to stew in his own thoughts. Aris had taken one look at him glaring daggers at his olives in the mess and discovered he had somewhere else he urgently needed to be.

As soon as his shift was finished, Costis marched directly to Kamet’s room in the city. Kamet let him in without a word and stood by as he paced the floor.

“You accepted the Queen’s offer.”

“You do not think I should have accepted? I think I will be a very fine spymaster.”

Costis brushed off the distraction, intent on saying his piece. “You went to Roa because you didn’t like staying in the palace.”

“And you went to Roa because I did.”

“You do not like living in the palace--why would you agree to be Secretary of the Archives?”

Kamet blinked and looked at him as though he had just asked who the King was.

“No,  _ you _ are the idiot,” Costis countered. “You shouldn’t have agreed to take a dangerous job in a place you don’t like because of me. You should have at least spoken with me before accepting--I was going to turn down the King’s offer and we could have gone somewhere you don’t hate!” The part of him that was not currently angry with Kamet was relieved when he didn’t shrink from Costis’s outrage.

“You are still the idiot. You are three times a fool! This choice was mine to make, and I am free to make it for whatever reason I choose! I dislike living in the city. I disliked living in the palace, and I  _ came _ to dislike living in Roa, and I understand now that it is because my only requirement for where I live is that I have your company. You are not the only one who swore an oath, Costis--you cannot insist you are the only one allowed to keep it!

Kamet’s words hit their mark. He and Kamet were both trying to do what they thought was best for the other--he was just sore that Kamet had beaten him to it. He took a breath and exhaled his bitterness. It still worried him what might come of Kamet putting himself in danger like this, but he was not angry--not truly. He stepped over and cautiously took Kamet’s hand in his. Kamet let him.

“I’m sorry, Kamet. You’re right,” he said. “I can’t be upset with you for making the same choice I would have made if we were reversed.”

“The choice you were  _ about _ to make if I had given you any time to make it,” said Kamet.

“So,” Costis admitted. “I was worried. Secretary of the Archives is a dangerous job.” He brought their linked hands up so he could kiss Kamet’s.

“There is danger for us both wherever we go,” Kamet reminded him. “This way I will be better equipped to spot it.” Kamet kissed him, and Costis let himself be happy. 

“So,” He swung their arms. “Immakuk and Ennikar’s adventures in paperwork?”

“Speak for yourself—the first thing I will be doing is checking this entire rotten palace for loose roof tiles.”

Costis couldn’t stop himself from smiling. He would be Captain, and Kamet would be Secretary. It was obscene how happy he was going to be.

“You will be a very fine spymaster, Kamet.”

“So, so, so.”


End file.
